OpenMarket: June 2014https://cei.org/blog/feed/201406
enIs Harris v. Quinn Decision Preview of Abood Challenge?https://cei.org/blog/harris-v-quinn-decision-preview-abood-challenge
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/11-681_j426.pdf"><em>Harris v. Quinn</em></a> puts a brake on an ongoing effort by organize labor to expand the definition of “public employee” to just about anyone who receives any form of government assistance, such as home care workers paid by Medicaid (a phenomenon I pointed out in a 2009 <a href="http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/pa645.pdf">Cato Institute study</a> on public sector unions; see page 9).</p>
<p>However, the Court did not address the issue of whether government employees may be required to pay union dues in the first place. Workers who aren’t union members but work under a collective bargaining agreement can be required to pay “agency fees,” which are essentially dues in all but name.</p>
<p>That would have required revisiting the Court’s 1977 decision, <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/431/209"><em>Abood v. Detroit Board of Education</em></a>, which upheld a Michigan law, “whereby every employee represented by a union even though not a union member must pay to the union, as a condition of employment, a service fee equal in amount to union dues.” Yet, Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the Court’s majority in <em>Harris</em>, offers some strong criticisms of <em>Abood </em>that could well open the possibility of future challenges to it. </p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:42:50 +0000Ivan Osorio76050 at https://cei.orgIs John Boehner's Lawsuit the Best Way to Rein in the Executive Branch?https://cei.org/blog/john-boehners-lawsuit-best-way-rein-executive-branch
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>House Speaker John Boehner plans to sue President Obama over perceived abuses of the separation of powers. Over at the Daily Caller, I argue that Boehner has a point that the executive branch has grown too powerful.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:39:20 +0000Ryan Young76049 at https://cei.orgHarris v. Quinn: A Human Interest Anglehttps://cei.org/blog/harris-v-quinn-human-interest-angle
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>The <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/11-681_j426.pdf"><em>Harris v. Quinn</em> decision today by the U.S. Supreme Court</a> is a major human interest story.</p>
<p>Congratulations to Pam Harris and her son, Josh, and family whose First Amendment freedom of association rights were vindicated.</p>
<p>In total, eight women petitioned for their rights before the Supreme Court against a state governor and two massive unions. What’s more, all eight of these women were participants in a Medicaid program that afforded benefits for their loved ones who have been ill.</p>
<p>Caring for chronically ill loved ones is a costly endeavor, financially, temporally, and emotionally.</p>
<p>In the <em>Harris v. Quinn</em> victory, thwarting Big Labor’s attack on these eight family women and the other women who predominantly provide America’s home health care and daycare (in the sister case of <em>Parrish v. Dayton</em>) is great news.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:20:56 +0000Aloysius Hogan76048 at https://cei.orgAlito’s Excellent Defense of “Corporate Personhood” in Hobby Lobbyhttps://cei.org/blog/alito%E2%80%99s-excellent-defense-%E2%80%9Ccorporate-personhood%E2%80%9D-hobby-lobby
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>The groundbreaking <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf">decision</a> today in <em>Burwell v.</em> <em>Hobby Lobby Stores</em>, in which the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Obamacare’s contraception mandate violates the religious freedom of two closely held corporations, will be dissected heavily for days, and studied for weeks, years and decades. My colleague Hans Bader has more <a href="http://cei.org/blog/supreme-court-rules-favor-hobby-lobby-religious-businesses-can-invoke-rfra">here</a>.</p>
<p>For consistent civil libertarians, one of the most remarkable—and favorable—aspects of the majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito is a no-hold-barred defense of corporations asserting rights of “persons.” Though this case dealt with statutory rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and did not directly involve constitutional liberties, Alito implied strongly that corporations—even if set up for profit—should enjoy such “personal” rights.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:14:23 +0000John Berlau76047 at https://cei.orgSupreme Court Rules in Favor of Hobby Lobby; Religious Businesses Can Invoke RFRAhttps://cei.org/blog/supreme-court-rules-favor-hobby-lobby-religious-businesses-can-invoke-rfra
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>In <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf"><em>Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.</em></a>, the Supreme Court has ruled that it violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) for the Department of Health &amp; Human Services (HHS) to require religious business owners to provide contraceptive and abortifacient coverage for their employees. HHS imposed the birth control requirement as a regulation issued under the 2010 healthcare law popularly known as Obamacare.</p>
<p>We previously argued that the requirement indeed violates RFRA, since the requirement substantially burdened the free exercise of religion, and was not the least restrictive means of advancing a compelling governmental interest (see <a href="http://www.onenewsnow.com/legal-courts/2012/02/16/birth-control-mandate-misconceptions">here</a>, <a href="http://cei.org/op-eds-articles/letter-editor-obamas-contraception-compromise-doesnt-quell-debate">here</a>, and <a href="http://cei.org/op-eds-articles/letter-editor-constitutional-limits">here</a>). RFRA, which was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in 1993, requires such religious exemptions to federal regulations. RFRA used to require such exemptions to state laws, not just federal laws, but the Supreme Court <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/95-2074.ZS.html">struck down</a> RFRA’s application to state law on federalism grounds in 1997, holding that RFRA encroached too deeply on state sovereignty. By contrast, the Supreme Court continued to uphold RFRA against federal laws that restricted religious practices in ways not essential to vital government interests, such as ruling in favor of Native American claimants seeking to use controlled substances in their religious ceremonies, in its 2006 decision in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzales_v._O_Centro_Espirita_Beneficente_Uniao_do_Vegetal" title="Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal"><em>Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita</em></a>.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 30 Jun 2014 16:20:20 +0000Hans Bader76043 at https://cei.orgCEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulationhttps://cei.org/blog/cei%E2%80%99s-battered-business-bureau-week-regulation-1
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>There were no major regulations this week, but more than 80 little ones, covering everything from a religious exemption to the federal tanning tax to imported cotton.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 30 Jun 2014 12:20:27 +0000Ryan Young76041 at https://cei.orgWhat’s at Stake in Monday’s SCOTUS Decision on Harris v. Quinnhttps://cei.org/blog/what%E2%80%99s-stake-monday%E2%80%99s-scotus-decision-harris-v-quinn
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>This Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to decide <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/harris-v-quinn/"><em>Harris v. Quinn</em></a>, as one of the court’s last two decisions to be handed down in 2014.</p>
<p>The case, which originated in Illinois, concerns whether home health care workers who receive government assistance are public employees and can be unionized. These workers include individuals who offer home health care services, an industry that is largely run by women. A sister case in Minnesota, <em><a href="http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/225996941.html#gpLcwsH1L4K28Dz9.97">Parrish v. Dayton</a></em>, addresses many of the same issues but focuses on daycare service providers. In both cases, all of the plaintiffs are women.</p>
<p>There are two big issues to keep in mind for Monday’s decision:</p>
<p><strong>1. </strong><strong>Forcing private employers, employees, and independent contractors to be government employees</strong></p></div></div></div>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 16:46:40 +0000Aloysius Hogan76039 at https://cei.orgRed Tapeworm 2014: Number of Proposed and Final Rules in the Federal Registerhttps://cei.org/blog/red-tapeworm-2014-number-proposed-and-final-rules-federal-register
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><em>This is Part 12 of a series taking a walk through some sections of </em><a href="http://cei.org/sites/default/files/Wayne%20Crews%20-%20Ten%20Thousand%20Commandments%202014.pdf">Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State</a><em> (2014 Edition)</em></p>
<p>We’ve talked about <a href="http://cei.org/blog/red-tapeworm-2014-thousands-federal-register-pages">total pages</a> in the <em>Federal Register</em>, as well as isolated the record number of <a href="http://cei.org/blog/red-tapeworm-2014-record-number-federal-register-final-rule-pages">pages now devoted to final rules</a>.</p>
<p>But the actual <em>numbers</em> of proposed and final <em>rules </em>published in the <em>Federal Register—</em>not just the page counts such rules command—merit close attention.</p>
<p>The chart nearby shows how, in 2013, rules finalized dropped by 1.3 percent, from 3,708 to 3,659. (In a future column we’ll examine some possible reasons for this recent decline). Obama’s first year in office brought 3,503 rules, so the increase since then is four percent.</p>
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</div></div></div>Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:49:34 +0000Wayne Crews76035 at https://cei.orgUnanimous Supreme Court Strikes Down Unconstitutional Obama "Recess" Appointmentshttps://cei.org/blog/unanimous-supreme-court-strikes-down-unconstitutional-obama-recess-appointments
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Today, in <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-1281_bodg.pdf"><em>NLRB v. Noel Canning</em></a><em>, </em>the Supreme Court unanimously <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/06/26/another-unanimous-opinion/">struck down</a> President Obama’s “recess” appointment of NLRB members during a non-existent recess, <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/12-1281_bodg.pdf">saying</a> there has to be an actual Senate recess (like a break of ten days or more) for the President to make a recess appointment.</p>
<p>As University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds <a href="http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/190886/">notes</a>, the “<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/381296/supreme-court-rules-unanimously-against-obama-12th-and-13th-time-2012-john-fund">recess appointment case was the 13th time the Supreme Court has ruled unanimously against the Obama Administration since 2012<strong>.</strong></a>” The Obama administration takes such extreme positions that even liberal Supreme Court justices ideologically sympathetic to it sometimes have to <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/supreme-court-rejects-federal-power-grab-over-churches-hosanna-tabor-v-eeoc">rule against it</a>.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court rightly, and unanimously, rejected President Obama’s radical interpretation of the Constitution’s recess appointments clause. His interpretation would, as D.C. Circuit Judge David Sentelle noted, have given Obama “free rein to appoint his desired nominees at any time he pleases, whether that time be a weekend, lunch or even when the Senate is in session and he is merely displeased with its inaction,”” gutting constitutional checks and balances against unqualified presidential appointments.</p>
<p>Its ruling also underscores the unconstitutionality of Obama’s “recess” appointment of Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. He was appointed on the same day in the same non-existent “recess” as the invalidly-appointed NLRB members, as the Competitive Enterprise Institute noted in its <a href="http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/supreme_court_preview/briefs-v3/12-1281_resp_amcu_snbbs-etal.authcheckdam.pdf">amicus brief</a> to the Supreme Court, and thus, many of his actions while invalidly appointed and without authority to act were under a cloud. A CEI case that challenges his appointment and the constitutionality of other aspects of the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” law – <a href="http://cei.org/legal-briefs/state-national-bank-big-spring-et-al-v-geithner-et-al"><em>State National Bank of Big Spring v. Lew</em></a> — remains pending.</p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 26 Jun 2014 20:17:14 +0000Hans Bader76026 at https://cei.orgU.S. Supreme Court Rules Obama NLRB Recess Appointments Unconstitutionalhttps://cei.org/2014/06/26/u-s-supreme-court-rules-obama-nlrb-recess-appointments-unconstitutional
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even">Today, the U.S. Supreme Court made its ruling in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning. In a 9-0 vote, all justices ruled that President Obama's recess appointments of three members to the NLRB in 2012, while the Senate was holding pro-forma sessions, were unconstitutional (see full decision here).</div></div></div>Thu, 26 Jun 2014 16:50:19 +0000admin78495 at https://cei.org